On my first visit to the Philip Stein Singapore Flagship Store on the third level, ION Orchard, Singapore.

AT 84 SQM. it is the biggest of its kind in Asia. The Philip Stein Flagship Store that opened on the third level of ION Orchard in late January 2013 proves that sometimes, size does matter.

I paid it a visit for the first time in early February and marveled at the extent of merchandise on offer. It is the flagship after all. Framed by the entrance and bathed in warm lights, the vitrine that houses the brand’s automatic timepieces lured me in. I quickly inspected the lineup, in search of the then “very first and only one of its kind” automatic movement Philip Stein that I had purchased from The Hour Glass at Takashimaya over a year ago.

Wearing the then “first ever and one and only” automatic movement Philip Stein in Singapore, purchased at The Hour Glass, Takashimaya, Orchard Road, Singapore.

The Entrance, Philip Stein Flagship Store, ION Orchard, Singapore

The vitrine of automatic movement timepieces

I found it. But my attention was soon snatched by this handsome beauty that is the All–Titanium Chronograph (13TI–WCG–TSS) from the Prestige Collection. I held it in my hand and was right there and then ready to plead guilty to the charge of lust. And David Guetta and Sia starting to play incessantly in my head didn’t help to appease the brewing, simmering passion for the tick-tocker that had since stapped itself on to my left wrist.

The All–Titanium Chronograph (13TI–WCG–TSS) from the Prestige Collection

The titanium timepiece is humongous beside my Signature Large!

The thing about titanium timepieces is that even with their heft, they are surprisingly lightweight!

While I waited for my beating heart to be still, I glanced around me and found that the store offers the brands other well-being products, like the sleep bracelet and the wine wand. And to my right, it didn’t escape me that they have expanded to include more jewelry pieces.

I just had to admire this beauty against the backdrop of Philip Stein’s new jewelry line.

If you look closely, you shall see that the automatic timepieces boast Swiss Made movements!

On my second visit to the store

Philip Stein has excellent customer service! I feel like a special guest at someone’s house.

Their paper bag is in pristine white.

Which is a sharp contrast to the Hublot paper bag!

I initially went there to have a couple of wristwatches serviced. (Their customer service has always been excellent, even in the Philippines where I purchased the very first one I’ve ever owned.) But I ended up leaving with a holistic experience that can only come from the promise of an overall ENHANCED QUALITY OF LIFE – something that has been shared with my family and with some of my closest friends who I have influenced to give Philip Stein a try.

Two Philip Stein Signature Large timepieces

The very first Philip Stein I ever did buy!

“Arms raised in a V!” – a Philip Stein and a Technomarine!

“Ebony and ivory, live together in perfect harmony…” – a Philip Stein and a TW Steel!

Green with envy – a Philip Stein and a Nixon.

One from Italia, one from Chicago – a Philip Stein and a Morellato!

Three time zones on my wrist. Or are they? One for the Philippines, one for Singapore, and one for Shanghai.

One Signature Large ready to be packed to go!

An Oversized Signature Chronograph. This one is Brother’s.

Philip Stein has a unique quick strap release mechanism that allows for the immediate interchangeability of straps without the need for any tools.

Mine and Brother’s

The Limited Edition Oprah 25th Anniversary Wristwatch!

The Oprah and the eNTeNG on our coffee table with the stone inlay.

Worn with a yellow string bracelet

Worn with a stainless steel bracelet

In the Philippines, one of the authorized agents for Philip Stein is Adora in Greenbelt 5. I’ve bought a number of straps from them.

My Signature Large has the Art Deco feel that I’ve always loved. It’s right at home with my Tissot Heritage Prince I’s.

I purchased the stainless steel bracelet separately for when I want to go with an all-metal look.

“SIR, LASALISTA kayo, noh?” The propensity for lying almost kicked in. Not because I wanted to be seen as a Green Archer (I’m mighty proud of being a Mapúa Cardinal!) but because it seemed convenient at the time.

For a split second, I turned my head a little to the right, just so I could let the sales associate know that all his blabbering wasn’t lost with me. He was tailing me as I made my way from one end of their store to the other, carefully scanning every displayed item for a pair of green sneakers. I would’ve wanted Converse but the two stores I had been were out of stock.

“No no no. It’s just that I love green.”

“Adidas Samba… do you have it in green? Does it even come in green?”

I ended up crossing the hall to another store where I found this pair of Gola shoes. They’re perfect for completing today’s ensemble. Quite obviously, I’m just way too happy that “Green Lantern” has finally opened in cinemas!

We have tickets to a screening tonight. Can’t wait!

Today is Green Lantern day!

Today's ensemble. The green frame didn't make it. As for the green jeans from People Are People? Not available in my size! Hahaha!

Wearing two Nixon Time Teller wristwatches to the coffee table book launch!

I THINK I have the makings of an obsessive lover. I mean, if I’d go by my fixation for certain wristwatches.

Ever since I got back from Singapore, I’ve been fascinated by the Nixon Time Teller wristwatch. I got on my flight back home with the Green sharing wrist space with my trusty Philip Stein Signature Large, which at the time had a lizard strap in Yellow. That was enough for the three time zones I was closely keeping tabs on – Manila, Sengkang, and Orchard Road. (Hahaha!) Otherwise, I would’ve still put on the Matte Navy that was bumping and grinding with a Technomarine and a TW STEEL in my carry-on.

The Nixon Time Teller boasts a truly minimalist dial, numberless and quite clean with only the brand name appearing on the 3 marker. Being ultra lightweight belies the strength of durable polycarbonate from which it is crafted. A smooth polyurethane strap in a patented “locking looper” design finishes the sleek look of this wristwatch, which is water-resistant to 100 meters.

He had just asked me how I was feeling. It was the eve of my departure from Singapore after what I would play down – cliché as it may sound – as a two-week whirlwind affair with the city, an intimacy that could put “isang linggong pag-ibig” (one-week love affair) to shame. I truly had a great time in the Lion city that with every second I took to sip the potent miso-flavored broth of my ramen, I knew it was one second that inched me closer to daparture time.

Farewell dinner was at Aoba Ramen Restaurant at Ion Orchard. While it was yet another recommendation by Friendship, it was I who insisted on the place. I’ve been meaning to devour their ramen from when Friendship first pointed the place out to me from our vantage point at Muji, a level below.

It being a Friday night, I knew all those I would’ve wanted to partake a meal with me could be off to other plans. But it wouldn’t hurt to wish to have them all there – Friendship, Partner & The Boy Wonder, Rizzie & Bom, Giant Paulo, Brother, and Green Lantern.

Three of eight showed up, a pathetic batting average you may say. But I couldn’t do anything about Partner having to leave a couple of days prior for business in Connecticut, Bom being in his own trip in Idaho, Giant Paulo choosing to spend quality time with his visiting wife, and Green Lantern having to get on that redeye to Manila, the night before, to surprise his mom on her birthday.

But I couldn’t ask for more, being surrounded by Friendship, Rizzie and Brother.

Corn Miso Ramen

Agedashi Tofu

Takoyaki

Wakame Seaweed Sushi

Ebi Mayo

Japanese Rice

Brother's Salmon Steak

A couple of weeks back, I waxed nostalgic about my time in Singapore, going to as far as describing how I felt to be a mix of bittersweet… and incomplete. In hindsight, I find this confusing convolution of emotions to have been brought about by the pleasant surprise that was the Lion city. I find it to be exactly what my bowl of Corn Miso Ramen turned out to be.

I’ve favored miso-based broth for quite a while, and have always expected it to be quite thick, robust, and even tangy, compared to soy- and salt-based broths. But it was pleasant to find in front of me at Aoba, a thinner broth that was less salty than what I’ve been used to. But a change in consistency and relation to seawater didn’t take away from it being hearty. And – Surprise! Surprise! – there was a lot of corn (it was “corn” miso after all), something I’ve never had in my ramen before.

I’ve always associated Singapore to what enterprising individuals have reduced it to in souvenir items – “Singapore is a ‘fine’ city.” A kind of structuredness that I thought I would find hard to fit in. But surprisingly, it was exactly what I need at this point in my life. And while this is true, much like the burst of color and sweetness that came from corn kernels swimming in my miso-based ramen broth, I came to realize that options to improve myself and may I say, “strive to be happy” are within my reach.

The shopping bag count that kept me up all night on my last night in Singapore. It was hard to fit all in in my suitcase, then "recreate" all the packaging back at home before handing them to loved ones. The Jo Malone is not mine. It's Friendship's, for her sister.

EVERYBODY WHO would learn that I have just come back from Singapore would always blurt out, “But the shopping is expensive!”

While to a certain extent I do agree with that sweeping statement, I have to say that it only does really feel “expensive” when it goes beyond reason. And I define reason as shopping for and because of the right people.

For this trip I made a list. And after having gone through it, this was how the shopping bag count looked like. I love calling these photos as my “what happens in Singapore stays in Singapore” photos. Obviously, publishing these here means I’m not keeping to myself whatever happened on Orchard Road.

I burned a lot of Singaporean dollars to achieve this, though I don’t mind at all upon seeing the appreciation on the faces of my loved ones.

But unfortunately, there aren’t any hawker stalls here at home where I could tide myself over the coming weeks, subsisting on less than five dollars a day, just enough for a satiating plate of Hainanese chicken rice! Hahaha!

Friendship brought me to Tatty Marsh, the store the officially carries Cath Kidston merchandise in Singapore! I just had to pick up some stuff for the ladies in my life.

This Jo Malone bag is for Friendship's dear sis.

Three of five Nixon bags! Nixon is a hip, cutting-edge wristwatch brand from the US that has in recent years expanded to a whole lifestyle line. Nixon is the love!

My favorite in the pack is this "Time Teller" minimal wristwatch in green!

The first batch of shopping bags

A trip to Resorts World Sentosa resulted to a couple of Victoria's Secret bags! Yey! The Giordano bags have the really nice "I heart SG" souvenir shirts.

WITH THE sky above still overcast with thoughts of the recession, I find solace in spite of the fact that I wasn’t able to replenish my wristwach funds. No, make that “raise” a wristwatch fund. I bow my head in shame, which, while intended to help deeply take stock of a seeming failure, managed to open my eyes to where the vanishing funds went. What I had previously dismissed as empty worries of a continually expanding girth are now a layer of fat beneath a skin with a tangible protrusion threatening to dent my study table.

But I’m renewing my resolve to get new wristwatches soon enough (Hahaha!). Especially since I’ve come across two brands that have managed to capture my attention, hold it for a while – and put it under a spell.

The first one is called CHOTOVELLI – “Chotovelli E Figli Pilot Watches from Torino, Italy.” I love love love big-faced pilot watches! My two favorites from their collections are the Chotovelli TS 7700–1 (SKU: 77–1) and the Chotovelli TS 9950–1 (SKU: 995–1). I think “TS” stands for Twin Spark. I first came across this brand name when I read in the papers that its Philippine distributor presented their wristwatches to two men they had aptly called their “Chotovelli Men.”

The second one I saw in the pages of an American magazine. Their ad was an almost immaculate white that was beautifully blemished only by the image of a lone big-faced wristwatch. The brand is called NIXON. From their page on men’s wristwatches, I love the THE ZILLAMATIC, THE CERAMIC 51–30, THE CERAMIC 42–20, and THE VOLTA. The last one is solar-powered!